The Nigerian Upstream Petroleum Regulatory Commission, NUPRC, has dismissed reports circulating that there was an oil theft amounting to N8.41 trillion.
The Commission explained that the claim arose from a misinterpretation of crude loss statistics between 2021 and July 2025, which had been released by the NUPRC in the spirit of transparency and in line with the Petroleum Industry Act, 2021.
On September 11, 2025, the Commission revealed that daily crude oil losses had dropped to 9,600 barrels per day, the lowest since 2009, a figure that was widely and accurately reported.
A statement issued on Wednesday by its Head of Media and Strategic Communications, Eniola Akinkuotu, said the NUPRC was further vindicated when the latest figures from the National Bureau of Statistics, NBS, showed that Nigeria’s economy grew by 4.23 per cent, largely driven by increased oil output and two other sectors.
According to the Commission, the report on the alleged N8.4 trillion oil theft was “not only specious but lacks proper context” in several respects.
“Firstly, crude oil losses have been on the downward trend due to collaborative efforts between the NUPRC, the Office of the National Security Adviser, the military, operators, and other relevant stakeholders.
“This collaboration through both kinetic and non-kinetic means dropped oil theft from a staggering 102,900 in 2021, when the Commission was established, to the current 9,600 bopd, representing over 90 per cent reduction in losses.
“Also, in the misleading report, an exchange rate of N1,500/$1 is used from 2021 to 2025 to increase the figures and sensationalise actual losses when in actual fact, Nigeria’s exchange rate was less than N430 on the official market and barely N600/$1 on average between 2021 (when most of the crude theft occurred) and mid-2023,” the statement said.
